The reigning two-time league MVP slid on one knee and into the
boards to celebrate his 35th goal of the season, a shot from the
slot that beat Mike Smith to the stick side. The score rescued
the Capitals after Washington blew a two-goal lead with a rare
third-period meltdown.

"It was a quiet game," Washington coach Bruce Boudreau said.
"Once they got the two goals, it got everybody's blood going
again. ... Ovie, you could feel on that shift that he sort of
just said 'OK, it's time I did something."'

Nicklas Backstrom and Brooks Laich also scored for the Capitals,
whose double-digit run matches the team mark set Jan. 27-Feb.
18, 1984. Washington, which has outscored opponents 47-21 over
the 10 games, can break the record Tuesday at Boston.

"The number 10 is pretty tough to get to," Boudreau said. "I
told the guys it's something that you might go your whole career
again without getting again, and so enjoy it."

The league's top-scoring team has turned the Southeast Division
race into a laugher and is within one point of San Jose for best
record in the NHL. Seven of the 10 wins have been by two goals
or more, but Sunday's victory showed the Capitals also can win
when they're far from their best.

"Every team wants to come in a make a statement and say 'We're
the team that knocked these guys off,"' Laich said, "so we're
getting teams' best efforts every single night. We're in special
territory right now, and a chance to make history in our next
game, so we've got to be prepared."

Jose Theodore, returning after missing two games with a lower
body injury, made 25 saves for Washington.

The Capitals were leading 2-0 when Martin St. Louis made a nice
deflection to pull the Lightning within a goal with 15 minutes
to play. Just 7 seconds later, Backstrom was whistled for
tripping, Washington's first penalty of the game.

Tomas Fleischmann compounded matters during the penalty kill
committing a hooking penalty out of frustration seconds after
losing the puck. The Capitals killed off 23 seconds of 5-on-3,
but Steven Stamkos' one-timer with Fleischmann in the box tied
it with 12:18 remaining.

Tampa Bay's rally proved fruitless when Ovechkin scored, an
overdue breakthrough in a game in which the Russian forward had
11 shots blocked before they reached the net.

"It's devastating, but we've got to grab some positive out of
this third period, some momentum going into the next game," St.
Louis said. "I thought we showed a lot of character coming back
like that."

The Lightning's final scoring opportunity was rebuffed when
Vincent Lecavalier was kicked out of the faceoff circle in
Washington's zone with 2.4 seconds to play. Lecavalier argued
the call and was sent to the penalty box for unsportmanlike
conduct, moving the faceoff to Tampa Bay's end.

The Lightning were the last team to beat the Capitals, a 7-4
victory on Jan. 12 during which Ovechkin challenged Lightning
forward Steve Downie to a fight before Washington's Matt Bradley
intervened on behalf of his teammate.

For all the anticipation, Sunday's rematch was on the dull side
for two periods. The only early highlight was Ovechkin's amusing
pratfall behind the Tampa Bay net, the result of a problem with
his left skate.

Backstrom got the game's first goal in the second period by
stuffing a rebound between Smith's legs during a power play. It
was Backstrom's 23rd of the season - a career high - and gave
the Capitals nine straight games with a power-play goal.

Laich scored the second goal, poking the puck into the net after
Smith had lost his footing.

The Capitals played without Mike Green, who leads NHL defensemen
with 52 points. Green was serving the first game of a three-game
suspension for elbowing Florida Panthers forward Michael Frolik
in the head Friday night.

NOTES: Smith, playing his first game since suffering a neck
strain against the Capitals on Jan. 12, made 28 saves for Tampa
Bay. ... Washington is 21-3-3 at home and has won nine in a row
at the Verizon Center. ... The Capitals went 13-2-0 in January,
breaking the franchise record for victories in a month. They won
12 in December 1984. ... The Capitals assigned G Michal Neuvirth
to Hershey of the AHL and recalled G Braden Holtby from Hershey.
The move was made so that Neuvirth can become eligible to play
for Hershey during the upcoming Olympic break.